Hundreds of people marched and protested Chase Bank CEO Jamie Dimon in a driving rain Nov. 2 in Seattle. Dimon was speaking at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown at an event for students from the University of Washington’s school of business. Police used pepper spray to clear an entrance that protesters were blocking. Police used pepper spray earlier in the day in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, new home of the Occupy Seattle encampment, where protesters “occupied” a local Chase bank, effectively closing it down for the afternoon. Six people were arrested in the afternoon bank protest.
JPMorgan Chase took over Washington Mutual in 2008 after it failed in the financial/housing crisis. Thousands of WaMu employees became unemployed as a result. Not far from the Sheraton Hotel where Dimon spoke, 3,400 WaMu employees in the bank’s Seattle headquarters lost their jobs, and Chase has left most of the WaMu office space vacant.
In 2008, Chase received $25 billion in loans as part of the bailout, while thousands of homeowners were foreclosed upon.
Dimon’s salary and compensation last year was $20.8 million, while wages for workers were stagnant and unemployment climbed.
The evening protest started with a rally at Westlake Park, near the Sheraton. As the rally came to a close, marchers poured into the street and the rain began in earnest. Protesters chanted, “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!”
As the crowd approached the Sheraton, people filled up 6th street in front of the Sheraton. Riot-equipped cops stood behind barricades as some protesters linked arms facing them. Others directed traffic to allow working commuters to safely get through the human crowd. The energy from the crowd was dynamic.
Over time, groups of activists began to spread around the building in an attempt to block all entrances. On the Pike Street side of the hotel, police used pepper spray to clear the entrance. Medics from Occupy Seattle treated those who were pepper-sprayed; others remained calm and allowed the medics to carry out their task.
Liberation News spoke with a Sheraton employee who was standing outside the hotel. She supported the aims of the Occupy movement and was glad that people were protesting Dimon.
After about three and a half hours, the protest wound down. Protesters learned that Dimon had snuck out of the building at 9 p.m. to avoid being confronted by those who had been injured by Chase
